Traces and Erasures

I often consider the other side of memory, which is forgetting, contemplating what is dissolving, breaking down, decaying, or falling into disrepair. If traces serve as a memory aid, then traces that decompose or get swept away make it all too easy to forget. Remembering, and worse, intense forgetting, can happen for many reasons, but the one that is of most interest to me is erasure. While collecting and preserving traces safeguards memory, erasure and destruction of material jeopardizes memory, and can lead to neglect and forgetting. Metaphorically speaking, erasure is loss, lost memory, and forgetting. Erasure can be unintentional or purposeful, as can the act of saving traces. But as memories disappear, there is always some detritus left–some fragments of memory that can be reassembled.